


Rocks

by undertheteacup



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Awkward Shepard, F/F, Fluff, Grumpy Ashley, M35 Mako
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 01:54:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7665745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undertheteacup/pseuds/undertheteacup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Mako becomes trapped under a mountainside and inadvertently acts as the vehicle for a budding romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rocks

The Mako was built to withstand a lot, but apparently even it had issues when buried under several tons of loose rock. After spending a few minutes watching the soldiers heave boulders in 110% gravity, Tali lit up her omni tool, muttered something about ‘weak constitution’ and 'polonium deposit,’ and hauled ass over the next rise.

Ashley watched her go, shaking her head silently before bending back to her work.

“Something bothering you, chief?” asked Shepard.

“Hell yeah something’s bothering me,” said Ashley, grunting as they pushed their next load over the edge of the pile. “Can’t you use your biotics to get rid of this mess? The same way you got us out the hatch to begin with?”

“I could,” agreed Shepard. “But this stuff has a lot more mass than your average person. I’d probably be too tired to continue the mission when I was done. Plus, I don’t like to overuse them. It makes me.. itchy.”

“Well if you’re so effin’ sensitive, maybe you shouldn’t be _bouncing_ this damn thing down a 90 degree slope and getting us buried under a _landslide_ ,” Ashley huffed, accentuating her words by hurling smaller chunks of the offending material down the slope.

“I mean, we have a contour map, right? Can’t we, I don’t know, _use_ the goddamned thing instead of going up and down as many mountains as possible? I could do without my stomach flying up into my mouth every hundred meters.” She wasn’t even speaking directly to Shepard anymore, merely muttering under her breath, but the comm system put her words right in the commander’s ear.

Shepard watched, listened, and said nothing. They squatted side by side to dig out a particularly large boulder. A sheen of sweat had formed on Ashley’s forehead even in the conditioned air of her environmental suit. Their knees knocked together and Ashley’s gaze flickered briefly up to Shepard’s face, wide-eyed, suddenly conscious of just how familiar she’d gotten with her superior officer. Their gloved hands brushed past each other as they drew back from the cliff, arms almost tangling together as though in a matter of seconds they had each gained a new and unfamiliar set of limbs in place of their old ones.

They each stepped aside awkwardly, brushing dust from their suits, but soon enough it was time for another joint effort. Just as they braced themselves and pushed, Shepard quietly asked “Can I kiss you?”

The boulder rolled and crunched down the cliff, crashing below.

“.. what?”

“Can I kiss you,” Shepard repeated, completely deadpan.

All lucid thought fled Ashley’s mind entirely. She reached for the obvious. “Shepard, I’m wearing a helmet. We’re both wearing our helmets.”

“I didn’t mean now,” Shepard said, her eyes never leaving Ashley’s face. “I meant.. later.”

  


* * *

  


It was a wonder they managed to get back to the ship and through decontamination in one piece. How had the Normandy’s corridors become so astonishingly narrow? How was it possible that they were running into each other at every turn, as though their bodies had minds of their own? As though they had grown additional elbows, hips, and shoulders just to get in each other’s way, awkwardly muttering _sorry_ , _my bad_ , _excuse me_ while studiously avoiding each other’s gazes.

The showers were a particular challenge. Suddenly elbows, hips, and shoulders were by no means the worst of it. Elbows, hips, and shoulders were positively _safe_. Even if covered in warm, soapy water.

  


* * *

  


At 03:00 hours the mess was empty except for Shepard leaning against the counter with her mug. She was so lost in thought she almost missed the soft padding of bare feet behind her.

“Ash?”

In the near dark she could just make out Ashley in a pair of old shorts and a tank top; bluish light outlining a bare arm, pooling in the waves of dark hair cascading over her back, making her eyes sparkle as she came on slow and sure, leaning in until she was barely an inch away from Shepard's face.

“… yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally conceived in response to a list of tumblr fic prompts, one of which was "Can I kiss you?"


End file.
